www.hoodrivernews.com
S PORTS
Hood River News, Saturday, January 31, 2015
‘Honestly, it’s been
part of the healing
process. To see the
community rally
together and turn a
tragedy into some-
thing positive and
lasting for people to
enjoy really embodies
the spirit that Matt
put into this place.
BEN KETLER,
Kleeway trail adopter, builder
Kleeway
trail coming
along nicely
Matt Klee dedicated a
great deal of time and ener-
gy building things for others,
and now, as a year since his
death approaches, an impas-
sioned community is coming
together to build something
for him.
The Kleeway is quickly
taking shape, and when com-
pleted the Post Canyon
mountain biking trail will be
a lasting legacy and the ful-
fillment of a vision a beloved
member of the Hood River
community left behind.
If there’s an upside to the
dry winter the Pacific North-
west is in the midst of, it’s
that conditions have been
perfect for trail building.
Without ice, snow and seri-
ous mud to contend with,
builders have made rapid
progress on the three-mile
route, which Klee envisioned
and advocated for as a way to
alleviate high-traffic safety
issues on the popular Seven
Streams trail, which is the
main artery for Hood River
County Forestry’s popular
Northwest Area Trails Sys-
tem.
Expected to be completed
in time for the summer rid-
ing season, the new single-
track trail will be a downhill-
only biking-only trail con-
necting Family Man (off Ri-
ordan Hill Road) to the Seven
Streams Staging Area, pro-
viding bikers a fun new
downhill route while making
Seven Streams safer for the
variety of user groups that
frequent it. A second phase
of the project, to be complet-
ed in the fall, will link the in-
tersection at the bottom of
the Spaghetti Factory and
Lower GP trails to about the
middle of Kleeway.
When walking a roughed-
out section of trail last week
that traverses a hillside
clear-cut after the 2012 ice
storm, it’s easy to sense Ben
Ketler’s passion about the
project.
“Matt was the kind of per-
son who would build stuff
below his level so that others
could enjoy it and progress,”
said Ketler, the Kleeway’s of-
ficial adopter, through
HRCF’s recreational trails
management system. “The
great thing about this trail is
that it is truly going to be for
every rider, from little kids
all the way up to experts.
That was Matt’s vision, and
after all the work and plan-
ning to get to this point, it’s
pretty exciting to see it final-
ly taking shape.”
Although Ketler has devot-
ed countless hours of his
own time and energy to see
the project through, he is
quick to point out how much
of a community effort it has
become.
“The amount of support,
both financially and in vol-
unteers coming up here to
See KLEEWAY, Page A8
Work party Feb. 14
Hood River Area Trail
Stewards is hosting a Klee-
way trail work party on Sat-
urday, Feb. 14. Meet at 10
a.m. at Family Man and
bring shovels, hoes, wheel
barrows, buckets, gloves,
water and a snack. The bulk
of the work will be raking
and shaping trail, hauling
gravel and digging tread.
A7
Olympian, US
Open champs
headline girls’
wrestling clinic
Hood River Valley High
School will be one of just two
locations on the west coast to
host a special girls’ wrestling
clinic on Wednesday, Feb. 4 as
part of USA Wrestling’s goal of
raising awareness and partici-
pation in female wrestling
across the country. The clinic
will run from 6:15-7:45 p.m. in
the HRV wrestling room and is
open to all females ages 5-25, no
wrestling experience required.
Headlining the event are
clinicians Kelsey Campbell
and Whitney Conder. Campbell
is a former Olympian and US
Open champion originally
from Milwaukie High School
and Conder is a US World Team
Trial and US Open champion
from Puyallup, Wash. Both
wrestlers are currently living
and training at the Olympic
Training Center on Colorado
Springs.
Participants should come
ready for light technique train-
ing but do not need special
equipment. For more informa-
tion, contact Trent Kroll at
trent.kroll@hoodriver.k12.or.us
HRV swim
team poised
for CRC title
The Hood River Valley High
School varsity girls swim team
sent a clear statement last
weekend that it is intent on re-
claiming the Columbia River
Conference title — after losing
it last year to Pendleton — and
making waves at the 5A State
Championships. At the annual
Hood River Invitational Satur-
day, the girls claimed the team
title and beat the next closest
CRC finisher, Pendleton (4th
place) by more than 100 points.
Of the ten teams at the meet,
all four CRC teams were in at-
tendance, thus providing a
good preview of potential out-
comes at the upcoming confer-
ence championships (Feb. 14 in
Hood River). Although not as
commanding as the girls, the
HRV boys had a solid perfor-
mance at the meet as well, net-
ting 333 points for a 3rd place
finish behind La Grande
(422.5) and Pendleton (378). The
combined effort put the HRV
team at second overall with 750
points. La Grande was first
with 777.5, Pendleton was 3rd
(673), The Dalles was 6th (301)
and Hermiston was 10th (112).
About Matt Klee
Please see RESULTS, Page A8
Hood River resident Matt Klee passed away last May at the age
of 40 while mountain biking at the Whistler Bike Park. Klee, an avid
biker, kiteboarder and outdoorsman, worked at Insitu and dedicat-
ed much of his free time as the driving force behind the Hood River
Area Trail Stewards (HRATS). Klee was instrumental in laying a
strong foundation for the organization’s future. For more informa-
tion on HRATS, future work parties, Kleeway progress or how you
can help, see the HRATS facebook page at facebook.com/hrats.
Paul Weatherly
rules the roost
BY JEFF OLSON
Kegler’s Corner columnist
Team of the Week:
Paul Weatherly, +132 (783)
Terry Arthur, +129 (780)
Gordon Sim, +129 (786)
Carl Casey, +114 (768)
Quinton Cox, +109 (709)
Photos by Adam Lapierre
THE KLEEWAY as seen last week above the section of Seven Streams trail that was clear cut in the winter of 2012. Ben
Ketler (top and below, left) proposed the trail with Matt Klee and has worked with IMBA trail builder Jason Wells (below,
right), HRATS, Hood River County Forestry and a small army of volunteers to get the trail completed by this summer.
Hats off to our Team of the
Week bowlers who rolled the
most over their averages in
last week’s league action at
Hood River’s Orchard Lanes.
Once again we have a nice
mix of bowlers — some new,
some household names and all
of them on fire.
Leading the parade of stars
was Paul Weatherly, who car-
ried his team to a 21-4 thrash-
ing of the powerful Hood
River Sports Club trio in the
tough Wednesday night Fra-
ternal league. Paul racked up
savvy scratch 233 and 213
games on his way to a stellar
627 series that was 132 pins
over his average, the most for
anyone in league action last
week! This marks the second
time that Paul has made the
Team of the Week in the past
month, so it appears he has
found the key to success.
Ahhhhhh, there’s nothing
like basking in the limelight
for motivation!
It’s always special to wel-
come another newcomer to
the big five. Terry Arthur sure
had things his way in the
Tuesday Nite Mixed league,
where he blasted a huge
Please see BOWL, Page A8